Centers and Independent Work - Part Four

Writing Centers – Part Two

Book review is just one idea of a writing center.  Other writing centers might include:

• ·        Letter Writing – friendly letter to classmates, family, teachers, administration, get well cards, birthday cards, holiday cards, letters to a favorite author, celebrity or government leader, letter to pen pals or student from a different class or grade level, letter to a family member that live out of town.  Bag a story
• ·        Bag a Story – place seven objects in a brown paper bag.  Have students fold a piece of paper into eight sections.  Ask them to introduce a character in the first section and write a story using all of the objects in the bag as part of the story, one section for each object.  Students may act out their story using the items when completed.
• ·        Top Ten – students will brainstorm and write a list of ten items related to a given topic.  The topic can be animals, places you’d like to visit, favorite stories, things that start with the letter D, favorite characters, etc…
• ·        Think and Thank Thursday – students think about someone that has helped them and then write a thank you letter or card to them.  Students can list things they are thankful for and explain why
• ·        Wish You Were Home – students create postcards from settings in stories they’ve read.  Students write a note as one character in the book to another character in the book.  On the other side, students can draw a picture of the setting.  Examples of postcards for students to refer to may be needed.
• ·        Story Starter Journal – create multiple journals with a story starter already written in it.  Students will select a story starter journal, read it, copy it, and use it to write a story.  These journals can be shared so that the entire class can write in them throughout the year.  Once students finish their story, they can go back and read their classmates stories.
• ·        How To – students will explain “How to” do something, including each step and specific details explaining those steps.  Some ideas of “How to” are: make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, get to their classroom from the school office, play a game or check out a book from the library